malawi travel photographer

When I was a teenager if you’d asked me what I wanted to do with my life I’d have told you I wanted to work for an NGO in Africa. Live Aid was part of my formative years and the images of those poor children and their families will haunt me forever. All I could think of was that I wanted to help.

I waited 15 years until I finally made it to the continent (Kenya, Tanzania and Zanzibar) on my honeymoon, booked as a surprise by my husband and little did I know when I was there I’d be bitten by ‘the Africa Bug’.

Back in the early 2000’s I ended up working as a Tour Leader on Overland Trucks in Africa. I was lucky enough to have visited some of the most beautiful countries on that continent; Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa and I always said that Malawi was my favourite.

Life took it’s course, I found a vocation that I absolutely adored, built a photography business I was proud of and the rest, as they say, is history.

Fast forward 15 years and I found myself capturing some personal branding images for Kate and Dom, from Orbis Expeditions, at their home in Devon. After a fun morning capturing their true spirit and personality of the business, we spent lunch recounting tales of Africa, how it captures your heart and I eagerly soaked up all their tales of life in Malawi.

Being commissioned for one trip led to being commissioned for three and before I knew it I was embarking on a month in Malawi. The preparation began. It’s no mean feat ‘extracting’ yourself for a month as a wedding photographer, especially not in the ‘wedding season’, but with the help of family and friends who knew how much this trip meant to me and LOTS of 7 day a week, 16 hour working days, I was on the plane with my camera kit in tow!

I think it took people a while to realise I’d ‘gone’. In fact I don’t think some people even realised I had. And to this day, I think there will be people out there who reading this will think “Oh…did she go somewhere??!!”. And that’s the joy, the freedom, the wonderfulness of it.

I’m sure like many entrepreneurs, a large proportion of my clients find and connect with me through social media and as a result the ‘need’ to post on a regular basis (for me, once a day) comes with the territory. And sometimes this can feel incredibly all-consuming and add pressure to a mind which is already overwhelmed at times.

When I left I had every intention of keeping up with my day to day posts, but due to my international flight times, one day passed. Then the next. Then the next. Then the next. And before I knew it, a whole month had gone by.

Did I feel ‘guilty’? For the first few days, yeah. And then I came to peace with it and made a decision…I’m not going to post until I feel ready to. And as easy as that, the pressure was lifted.

What helped massively was that for the country and culture I was living in, social media is simply irrelevant. When they were worrying about whether they would be able to feed their children (42% of under 5’s are chronically malnourished) or whether they had clean water to drink (1 in 3 still don’t), me telling the world my every day going’s on, seemed so irrelevant. Helped by a distinct lack of electric, internet or even time, I found myself wanting to put every spare second into photographing, helping out where I could or simply interacting with people for whom, crazily, my presence, my time, a wave or simply a smile, seemed to mean so much.

Did I miss it? No. (Sorry for the brutal honesty!). Because I knew, at the end of the month, it would still be there, but this experience, this chance to ‘do my bit’, wouldn’t.

So, for those of you who noticed I’d gone, thank you, that’s lovely to know. And for those of you who didn’t notice, thank you too. You’ve given me a fresh outlook on this social media malarkey and made me realise that whilst I will still have a very active presence, if I don’t post for one day, my business won’t come crashing down around my ears (I booked 3 weddings in the month I was away, with no internet!).

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Nice to meet you!

- Venetia Norrington -

Principle Photographer & Girl Boss

Adventurer, traveler and lover of life. Happiest barefoot. Sea loving surf junkie. Never has a camera far from her reach. Hopeless romantic and known to shed a tear or two. Creative, wild and free. Ridiculously grounded & lover of all things orderly! Peppermint tea addict